Now all chats are automatically sync'ed in real time across devices, provided that those devices are all connected to the internet (otherwise they sync upon connecting to internet).

The only drawback I have found is that if desktop Signal is running on my computer, but I’m away somewhere else in town and have my phone with me, I miss calls (but not text messages). Only the Signal on my desktop rings when I’m called, while the phone doesn't ring.

> Only the Signal on my desktop rings when I’m called, while the phone doesn't ring.

Doesn't https://signal.org/blog/ice-forking/ deal with that? Hasn't it been implemented yet?

I've had the desktop app open all day, and answered a Signal call on my phone earlier. I'll do more tests.

EDIT: just tested it, phone rang, I answered on desktop. Seems to work as intended.

It doesn't ring but it shows an incoming call, however you can't pick up. The green button does nothing.

Sounds like a bug. You could contact support@signal.org. I imagine they’d be interested.

You can disable receiving calls on your desktop in settings, I believe

Nope. I use it pretty heavily, and the only time I had an issue was when I added a new device and had some de-sync issues in the first 5 minutes. Otherwise, it's been a very smooth experience.

I have 4 devices that I use with the same account, in parallel and it works like a charm, it's amazing.

On four phones it might work but if one of those devices is a windows computer and you leave it on, you might experience problems with messages or phonecalls only going to one device. And it will forget your account now and then so you have to resync all messages which might take 5-10 minutes. Very annoying if you don't use it often on the computer but sometimes you just can't be bothered to type on a phone...

I have 1 Android phone, 1 Windows PC and 2 Macs, all for the same account - works pretty well for me!

I am using Signal 50% on the phone and 50% on the desktop and they complement each other well, I don't run into problems. The histories are in sync and the only thing I found annoying so far is the start-up time for the desktop version.

I only wish the desktop app would let me send SMS.

SMS is sent by interfacing with your phone’s modem which is connected to the mobile phone network. How would a desktop app be able to do that, except for that tiny minority of users who have a computer that can take a SIM card directly for connectivity?

https://messages.google.com/ manages to do it by routing the SMS through your phone.

The phone app could sync with the desktop app. You type an sms to the desktop, it syncs with the mobile app, mobile phone sends the sms, gets the reply, and the reply is synced to the desktop app.

This would require your phone to be connected to the internet at the moment you press Enter on the desktop, otherwise it could be hours until the SMS goes out. For those on prepaid plans, it would also require that you have enough credit on that phone to send SMS. Perhaps the developers felt that there were too many uncertainties to implement this feature; users might have reacted negatively if it didn’t work for them.

Plus, Signal plans to eventually allow multiple phones to be connected to one’s account. Then, the question becomes: if you sent a SMS from your desktop, which of those phones sends the SMS and gets billed by the mobile provider for doing so? You might say that a setting could be made for that, but any new setting requires changes to the UI, too.

It works like this on messages.google.com as well. It's not a deal breaker.

By talking with the app on your phone and asking it to do it.

It's totally easy to use now. I bounce between a phone and tablet and it's always in sync.

You are an apple tablet owner I guess as android tablets are not supported as linked device :(

I had a bad time with this a little over a year ago and stopped using Signal over it.

If my phone was off and I used Signal Desktop in the meantime, when I turned my phone back on the sync would often take as long as half an hour, with my phone buzzing for each message received during the duration in which I was online.

I contacted support and, well, it's a free product, what do you expect?

I stopped using it after I received a text message from my then-fiance about a medical diagnosis and couldn't call her back until Signal stopped overloading my phone. Awful. Purged from my device and I never recommend them anymore.